A Look Into IBM's OpenStack Meritocracy

VIDEO: Angel Diaz, IBM vice president of Cloud Architecture and Technology, discusses how Big Blue has earned its place in the OpenStack community.

AUSTIN, Texas--IBM is one of the biggest contributors to the open-source OpenStack platform, which helps to serve as a core component of IBM's cloud efforts. Helping to lead IBM's cloud efforts is Angel Diaz, vice president of Cloud Architecture and Technology, who has taken a very developer hands-on approach to make sure IBM leads by example.
In a video interview with eWEEK, Diaz discusses the role that IBM plays in the OpenStack community and why it matters to IBM's overall business. Diaz said that IBM has over 200 developers working upstream in OpenStack. He also noted that IBM helped to start the OpenStack Foundation back in 2012, shaping the organizational and governance structure to help the group succeed.
"We helped to start the foundation, but when we did that we weren't given a single committer," Diaz told eWEEK. "We had to earn our right in the community through the meritocracy."
In open-source communities, a code committer is a valued and trusted position that is based on an individual's ability to write and contribute code as well as the person's commitment to a given project. Diaz noted that IBM now employs multiple project technical leaders (PTLs) of OpenStack projects, and those individuals and IBM itself have earned the respect of the community.

"It's how we do business--we contribute," Diaz said. "We're not open-source leaches."

Watch the full video interview with Angel Diaz below:

Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at eWEEK and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.